AfterMay—TheFinalDraft
by Duplicitywistful
Summary: Mature Content Warning. The Story "After May" as I rewrite it into its final draft, or as final as it's going to get. Look here for updates, there if you want what's already written. Added/corrected content here.
1. ChapterOne

May 2nd, 1998

"…I'm sorry- wait, wait, no- I-"

Those were the last words Andromeda Tonks heard coming out of the radio broadcast of Potterwatchbefore she found herself sitting alone in her living room, suddenly acutely aware of every minuscule detail around her. The newborn that was laid on the quilt she kept on the couch was breathing heavily. Her hand swept over his head. Her own daughter, Nymphadora, was born completely bald. That's what was so shocking about finding out that she was a metamorphmagus. Andromeda's grandson, however, had a large headful of hair for a baby and sometimes, if he was in a deep enough sleep, his hair would slightly shift colours. He probably had no knowledge of that though, come to think of it.

"I'm too young to be a grandma," Andromeda murmured to herself as she got to her feet. Of course, that was sort of her fault for running away from home at seventeen to have a baby out of wedlock. It was a bit odd to consider the fact that she was still only five years older than her son-in-law. But at least he was a good man or a relatively decent prick depending on one's frame of reference.

Andromeda's home was filled with ghosts. At, say, 3 o'clock in the morning, it only felt as though she was staying up rather late. At almost five, it seemed to shift drastically to a point that she could have sworn she saw the eyeballs in the portraits on the walls watching her as she walked by them, faces staring at her from the other side of the windows, death eaters lurking behind each wall. She found herself wandering aimlessly, trying to distract herself from the fears she knew she had, but were muffled in her head with exhaustion by tidying the shoes that cluttered the front door so she wouldn't have to make painful eye contact with the picture of her dead husband that was smiling above the kitchen. Her son-in-law needed new shoes, and Andromeda made a mental note to buy him some for Christmas. Her daughter was just as likely to get some as her trainers looked well beyond their time as well. A crumpled pink sock was hiding in the corner alongside a dust-bunny. The whites in the eyes of Andromeda's wedding photos seemed shockingly bright. She quickly switched on the light so that the spectral faces would stop staring into her. She could let herself drift off from time to time, but the baby always startled her awake again.

Andromeda was on her…fourth cup of coffee? No, wait, fifth. She didn't even particularly care for coffee, she just wanted to do anything to keep herself alert. Stopping by the sink, she splashed warm water on her face, gazing at the abyss that was the garbage disposal. How long was she supposed to wait before knowing that something was wrong? At what point was she supposed to throw up her hands and say that there wasn't any hope left for survivors? The coffee in the pot was stale and cold, layers of rings staining the glass. Andromeda emptied it into her mug anyways, topping it off with a healthy amount of sugar and milk. The rim was sticky from her repeated sips of it. The dishes from dinner the night before were still beside the sink. It could have taken her a few moments to wave her wand and send them back into the cupboard, clean, but she couldn't find the energy within herself to do so. Her body was in survival mode, and in a way, washing the dishes seemed pointless. How had the night before been so calm? So normal? There was no terrible foreboding weather, no worrisome news on the radio. Andromeda fixed pasta for dinner and Tonks and Remus were cuddled up on the couch with a blanket and the remains of a pint of ice cream Andromeda had gotten them as a gift during one of her last grocery runs. Remus took a shower, Tonks put the baby to bed after feeding him for a final time… everything was so... fine. Everything was where it was supposed to be.

She counted up all of the scenarios in which she would have to go to the Ministry of Magic to identify bodies. Her daughter or son-in-law, her sisters, the lovely woman who always gave her discounts at the apothecary when the war began, or one of the old healers from St. Mungo's who she worked under for several years and even delivered her daughter. Since the war, the entire family was on lockdown. No working. No socializing. No going back to the flat Tonks and Remus owned (though Andromeda suspected Tonks was coercing her husband to continue paying the monthly bills). Andromeda grew their food in the garden and only went out to muggle supermarkets late at night for necessities.

The sun was peeking over the horizon but was still hidden far behind the trees, only showing enough light to send the sky into a multitude of colours. Pinks, purples, oranges, and blues fought like a renaissance painting… the sky looked like candy floss. It looked like her daughter's hair. Andromeda caught herself staring out the small kitchen window for a while. At least until baby Teddy began crying. Andromeda fixed his bottle, wrapping him back up in the blanket she had knitted around Christmas time for him, and settled back with him on the sofa. He was only about two weeks old. What was Andromeda thinking in letting her daughter go to war? She lost so much blood during the delivery, she was even still complaining about it alongside the lingering pain, and she nearly couldn't walk for almost one of those two weeks. And now she thinks she can hold a wand and fire spells at people who are aiming at her with the equal intent to kill? She wasn't even ready to go back to heavy lifting yet. Andromeda couldn't do anything now though. She should have stopped her, she should have stopped her, why would the most hard-headed woman in the universe have said she was just going after her husband, she should have stopped her- Now it was Andromeda's turn to cry. There weren't tears coming out yet, but she caught herself hunched over the baby as she burped him, breathing as if she had just tried to run a marathon. It felt like there was a hand squeezing everything out of her heart and onto the living room floor.

Once she caught up to the world around her, the static still poisoning the radio and thus the rest of the living room, Andromeda attempted to conduct herself. She carried her less than pleasant coffee in one hand and her grandson in the other out to the front porch. Teddy enjoyed being rocked and seemed to enjoy the outdoors. Andromeda didn't feel they were old enough to own any rocking chairs yet, but the large bench swing did just fine. The sun was getting over the trees now. The neighborhood was awakening to go and get their newspapers, leave for work, or walk their pompous little dogs. The clouds were pale orange now, tinted with yellow. Teddy stirred in his sleep, showing off a bubbly yawn to his grandmother. The Tonks' house was at the end of a cul-de-sac, more secluded from the others with large hedges and fencing to hide what used to be a whirlwind of pink hair that was born here, and would surely soon be a whirlwind of Teddy's own colour of choice (though Andromeda did sincerely hope that the Lupins would get to move out and find their own place again, as sticking around only meant the worst). When Andromeda ran away, she told Ted all she ever wanted was a quiet house in the countryside, but they made suburbia work. She still wasn't too happy about the gaping muddy hole in her gardenias from a particular flying motorcycle. The banister on the porch was rotting, if only to oaf had wrecked into that, she could have made Ted plead with the insurance company to get a new one. But instead, the gardenias saw to their end. It was frankly the uglier of the two muddy gardens, though having a body-sized grave was still in the competition and was slightly more unnerving than the uprooted flowers.

But that was a story for another time.

"Oh goodness, I know," Andromeda cooed. It was an unusually warm day and the air was almost beginning to grow sticky. She took the infant out of his blanket and propped him up on her chest. He was seemingly more alert to his surroundings than usual, but also looked as if he could fall back asleep at any second if he changed his mind. "Mummy and Daddy should be home soon. They've been gone for long enough, don't you agree? Poor mummy's probably not too happy with her feet all swollen. I wouldn't be surprised if she makes your daddy carry her all the way home." Andromeda tried not to think up all the other reasons he would be carrying her body up to the front steps.

The postman was making his rounds in the cul-de-sac. He seemed to take ages to make it up to the porch. He was an older, nameless, faceless man, who was always a bit too chatty. "Good morning, Mrs. Tonks! Lovely morning, don't you think?"

"Wonderful weather," Andromeda replied, her head turning up to the sky. "I thought it was meant to rain."

The man was awfully interested in the baby. "Now don't tell me I missed out on your little one, eh?" He smiled.

"Oh no, not mine. My daughter's. Two weeks old. Named him after his grandfather, of course." She laughed nervously.

"Well tell the happy her I said congrats, will you?"

"Oh, certainly." Andromeda's smile wavered. He leaned over to hand her the mail and she took it, which consisted of two beauty magazines, a bill, and a reminder to make an appointment with the dentist.

"You look good nonetheless, Ma'am."

She was putting herself in a defensive position over the baby. His hair was brown for now, but of course, his mother's always changed around muggles at an inopportune time, so why shouldn't her son's? "Stay safe out there, do you hear?"

"Of course, Mrs. Tonks." He waved. "And tell your husband I said hello, will you?"

Did Ted even know the postman? Were Ted still alive, Andromeda would probably have watched her husband come out to greet the postman and have some story to tell about how they met and became friends, which would somehow surprise Andromeda, despite the fact Ted seemed to be "good old friends" with everyone. Oh, what did it even matter?

"Of course." Andromeda waved. "Have a good rest of the day."

"You as well, Ma'am!" The postman replied.

Andromeda waited for him to disappear behind the shrubbery before letting out a long sigh.

Cars passed by as people began to go to work, and now Andromeda's heart was pounding hard in her chest. Please don't let it be the Ministry, don't let it be the aurors... She was left alone with her thoughts except for her grandson and she was fit to be tied with paranoia, wondering what the hell was going on. She should've gone. She should have made her daughter stay with the baby, but hell, Tonks couldn't stay out of trouble for five minutes even if she tried. Time ticked by so slowly it made it feel as if every second, her insides were on fire and she had to sit as still as she could until it passed.

A large truck drove by in front of the house, supposedly going to deliver a large package to one of the neighbours, and Andromeda's eyes vacantly watched as a group of men were trying to unload a sofa into someone's garage. In a split second, two figures appeared on the other side of the street. She didn't notice as they approached the house, until they were right up to the porch.

Both figures looked startled. The man was leaning awkwardly on the shoulder of the woman, unable to put weight on his foot. His face was grey and tired, his hair in need of being brushed. He had time to throw on clothes. The woman had her dark brown hair sloppily piled atop her head. She was in a heavy sweatshirt and jacket to hide what remained from her pregnancy, with sweatpants and boots with untied laces. Her hand was cramped up like a claw and wrapped in heavy bandages. Cuts, scrapes, and bruises freckled the both of them. They were sweating and covered in grime and dust.

Andromeda shot out of her seat, her wand at the ready. "Where the hell have you two been? I've been worried sick for hours!"

Tonks laughed nervously, looking over at her husband, whose weak smile only amounted to a well-placed grimace. "Yeah, about that, actually... we were at Mungo's. The only reason they let us leave was because we're some of the better off looking ones." Remus winced, his eyes squinting.

Andromeda finally lowered her wand. She dropped it on the ground as she ran over to her her daughter. "I thought you were dead. I thought-"

"I'm okay, Mum." Tonks said. Both of them were weeping in each other's arms now. "Can I hold Teddy? I'd like to see him."

"Here, be gentle, and hold his head-" Andromeda coaxed as she handed on the baby.

Tonks' knees gave away and she crumbled into what was almost an upright fetal position in the step, the baby clutched close to her. She was sobbing now and babbling something to him incomprehensibly.

"Aren't you supposed to ask the security-" Remus started to argue in an exhausted voice.

"Lupin, I'm not about to fight you into this house, because you know damn well who'll win." Andromeda's voice faltered. "So tell me, are you a death eater?"

"No." He swallowed with wide eyes. "Are you?"

"No." Andromeda nodded. There was an awkward pause and she threw her arms around the man. "I'm glad you're alive just as much."

"Oh, don't kid, Andy." Remus tried to joke, but he was both emotionally and physically crushed by the mother's hug.

"You're my son, Remus." Andromeda mustered. She tried to regain her composure as she stepped back to retrieve her wand. "So maybe you best come inside, quick, before I stand here with the door open long enough to let the real death eaters inside."

"Dora," Remus croaked. He reached down to touch his wife's shoulder. "Let's go in. I'd like to lie down as soon as possible. I got hit in the head with a bad hex... hospital's only giving out pain medicine to the worst ones there."

"I'll find you something." Andromeda promised. The two helped Tonks up the front steps and inside the house. "I'd obviously love to hear about everything that happened, but you two need showers and rest. Did they feed you at the hospital?" Her daughter sniffled and shook her head. "I thought not. You ought to have something in your stomach if you're going to take anything, you know."

"Thank you." Remus nodded. Andromeda was fumbling around in the cabinets for something and the gas stove was already on. Tonks was wiping away her tears and snot and he used his sweater sleeve to help her.

"I thought you liked that sweater." Tonks chuckled.

"What, you think I won't burn it after that mess last night?" He replied. Her hair was sticking up in the front almost like overly teased bangs that Remus pushed out of the way to see her face. He ran his thumb over her cheek. "We made it."

She nodded in affirmation, closing her eyes. "Yeah." Her eyes were droopy and dark like her mother, though Tonks' left eye had a swollen purple around it. Her throat was purple, distinct finger marks cupping her neck like a glass of water. Her right hand was also severely bruised under her sleeve; it had been broken earlier that morning, along with almost all of her fingers, and despite proper medical attention, it still sported a bright purple blemish.

Remus sported a similar attire to his wife: blood caked on his nose and down his cheek, a long cut stretched from his ear, down his cheek to the side of his mouth, and bruises littered his face and body in similar manner to his wife. He looked like he was one square-on hit away from having a nose to match Dumbledore.

"Now may not be my place nor time," Andromeda chimed in, a package of bacon in her hand. "But who was there? Who did you see? Who did you fight?"

"Well for one, Harry was-"

"It's okay, I knew about Harry from the radio." Andromeda said. "I mean... who did this to you?"

Tonks took a shaky breath. "It was Bellatrix. She was the one to come after me. I knew it, we all knew it, she had a plan the whole fucking time to-" Her bad hand was visibly clenched and shaking and Tonks looked like she might cry again

Andromeda's entire face dropped, mumbling, "Just like Sirius... like your father..."

"Yeah." Tonks choked on her tears, trying to hide them by facing her husband. Remus reached over, taking her by the hand that (wasn't purple) was holding the baby.

"My god, Dora... What did she do to you?" Her mother asked in a quiet voice, her hand resting on her chest, fiddling with the collar of her shirt.

"She just knocked me around, Mum, it's fine, I'm fine-"

"She used Crucio, didn't she?"

"It's no different from two years ago at the Ministry. She beat me around, broke my hand, and I'm fine now." Tonks jabbered, completely avoiding a straight answer.

Andromeda shook her head. "I knew you shouldn't have become an auror. I knew that bitch would come after you and try to kill you. She did it to Sirius, she did it to Ted-"

"Mum, I'm alright, I swear." Tonks urged. "I-I was the one who... who..."

Remus caught on that Now was a good time to cut in. "Andromeda, Dora took care of her. I saw the body. Bellatrix can't hurt anyone else." He assured. "And Dora... Dora-"

He didn't know what to say to her, or even, what to say about her to appease her mother. Her nightmares were awful enough before the battle, Remus knew things would only get worse from there.

The three stopped talking over each other, the only audible noise in the kitchen was the gurgles of the baby. Tonks' stomach tied itself in knots, forcing her to abandon the invitation to breakfast.

"Who else died?" Andromeda asked.

"Antonin Dolohov. I know for certain Greyback went down, as well as Snape, and of course... You-know-who." Remus actually winced saying it aloud, but he remembered what had happened the last time. "I knew several of the students that went down. Fred Weasley, Lavender Brown, to name."

Andromeda shook her head, busying herself with the stove. "Poor Molly. Can't have been easy on her. None of them, but her especially. And George, of course."

No one knew exactly to say, but subconsciously or not, they all had the same thought. It seemed so surreal, they all wondered if it was just a dream, or a hallucination caused by their lack of sleep, though no one said anything about it.


	2. ChapterTwo

Tonks was fumbling with the key to the apartment, their suitcases sitting on the floor beside her. It was cramped for two people with a baby and their suitcases, but they figured for now the apartment would have to work. At least it was warm in the winter and wasn't moldy. After leaving in such a hurry, everything has to be left were it was, down to the milk in the fridge to a coffee cup on the counter.

Her wrapped hand didn't help with the precise maneuvering. "You still think they didn't change the locks?"

"Positive," Remus replied, looking around the hallway. Teddy was asleep in his carrier, one of the only nice baby things the couple had the chance to splurge on.

"You're absolutely positive?" She challeneged. "You took care of everything after you dropped me off at Mum and Dad's?"

"When you went to your parents' house, I made sure that everything was taken care of if we had to be gone for a long time. Or if your parents' house was no longer safe, if we came home and had to leave again on a short notice... I wanted to make sure that you still had somewhere to live. I took care of the money and all, it shouldn't be a problem."

"Come to think of it, we never talked about where you went. Or what ever happened to your nose." She pointed out, now focusing directly on him and not the door. "Where you stayed before you came and hunted me down. Never said what that was all about."

"I didn't realize that we needed to talk about that." Remus said. "I think that's your office key, not the one for the flat."

"Right." She was still suspicious, but Tonks nodded briefly and switched the key on her lanyard and wiggled it key hard and it unstuck, but as she went to grab the handle, she flinched as he picked up his suitcase and took a step forward. "Shit... wait a second, Remus-" she turned to him with wide eyes. "My Bubbling Houseleeks."

"Sorry, your... what?"

"Bubbling Houseleeks." She said. "You know, that large thing I put on the kitchen window that sort of looks like a fern? It's got... little green balls growing on it. Like walnuts, you know what I'm talking about-" She looked up at the ceiling and huffed. "I haven't trimmed them in what, nine months?"

"What's wrong with them?" Remus asked.

Tonks clenched her hand. "Yeah, so they basically can be, hmm, as large as my fist probably before they, you know, explode."

"Sorry, explode?" Remus asked. "When you say explode, what sort of exploding are you referring to? Fire? Acid?"

"Pus, actually," Tonks stared up at the ceiling. Her husband made a face. "They can sort of knock someone out, you know when they first... explode. And then they rot and it ferments and-"

"Lovely, is it toxic?"

"I hope not." She murmured. "I mean, long term. If you leave it alone... I don't know. You're supposed to clear them out before they burst and supposedly if too many of them grow too big-"

"Dora."

"Let me finish first- The bad part is that they grow like mushrooms. I don't know how well we can clean them up. Goddamn things... goddamn it..." Tonks was very quickly losing her temper and was beginning to beat herself up over it. She quite literally swung her foot at the shut door.

Remus looked around. "Well... hang on, first, we should leave Teddy here so that he can't be breathing anything in."

"No, wait, we can't do that! I absolutely do not want to do that! We can't leave him alone out here." She protested.

"Dora, it will only take a few seconds to Scourgify the kitchen." He assured her, putting his hand on her shoulder. "We'll be quick, come on. He'll be alright for just a moment."

"Remus,"

His wife looked at him with astonishment. "Have you gone completely mad? He's a month old and you want to leave him alone and-"

"It's not like we're out in the open." Remus gestured to the small hallway. There were only about half a dozen doors on that particular floor, if that.

"You're going to need a hand, won't you?" He insisted. "No one's going to come and scoop him up in the little bit of time it will take us to get this sorted out."

Tonks huffed. "I shouldn't have left that stupid plant here. I didn't think we would be gone as long as we were-"

"It's okay." Remus said optimistically. "Look, we'll leave the door open. I just don't want him near anything that might get him sick."

"I don't want to leave him exposed like this."

"Would you rather him get poisoned?"

"No." She said firmly, drawing out her wand. "Fine. Set him in the doorway, and put our bags out in the hall."

"Good choice." Remus nodded. "He's asleep. He'll be fine, love."

Mail was piled up behind the door, almost to a point that she couldn't push it open, and there was a strong rotten smell coming from inside. Tonks pulled her shirt up over her nose and Remus's face scrunched up and he used his sleeve to cover his face. Remus drew his own wand. He quickly made note of a dead mouse lying not too far away and flicked it away.

Tonks gave a saddened sigh. Her beloved houseplant was now a dull brownish-green that had taken root on the kitchen counter, and as suspected, the seeds on it had exploded, and each one had a newer, smaller plant sprouting out of it. The problem was that there were dozens of them, all sprawled across the length of the small kitchen. It almost looked like a greenhouse.

"Seriously?" She whispered. "I don't water you and you still manage to take over my kitchen?" The smell was apparently tolerable enough to drop her shirt as she began chiseling away at the smaller plants with a knife she procured from the knife block. She couldn't quite explain how they got any amount of nutrients from this but since the plant itself looked to be growing like mold, she just bothered herself with unhinging it from the counters.

Remus was carefully exaiming the corners of the apartment. The curtains and widows were dusty and the floor would need thorough cleaning. He flicked his wand towards the fireplace and the dust lifted itself off, disappearing into thin air. He cleared out the flies and the gnats. Teddy was still sound asleep, grunting and cooing, his tiny feet squirming and kicking. His hair was changing colours.

Having Teddy around was nerve-wracking. On top of the now lingering fear that he could be taken, crushed, squashed, dropped, forgotten, or become fatally ill under any given circumstances, they had no one but themselves around to handle him. Andromeda was a nice safety net to have around, but now was a free-for-all for the new couple. They hadn't even planned where they were going to put his bed yet. The first step was probably acquiring a bed, actually, and then figuring out how to assemble it. For now, his carrier was going to have to suffice. They were lucky enough to havea second bedroom, though it was really more of a glorified closet and was currently being used as such. However, it wasn't like Tonks was too keen on being separated from the baby throughout the night. Andromeda assures them that he would start keeping them up more and that they would hear him, but there was always the fear of what if they didn't?

Tonks glanced towards Remus, then the baby. Her hands were full of the plant. She carried to over to the trash, heaving and gagging as she opened the lid. "Really glad to be home, aren't you?"

"I wouldn't rather be anywhere else." He grinned. "Scourgify." The remains of the moldy-looking plant slowly vanished into the air and dissipated. "You get Teddy, I'll clear out the rubbish and the dishes."

Teddy must have been on the verge of being hungry because his eyes were wide open when he saw his mother. "Here, little guy, let's get you out of there." Tonks dramatically groaned as she scooped up the baby. He gurgled, his large eyes staring off around the room. She propped him up on her chest. "What do you think, huh? This is your home now. Yeah, this is where Daddy and I really live. We'll have to get your room cleaned out and set up in the next couple of days..."

"Dora, the poor little guy can't even see anything in front of his face yet." Remus said. He put his hand against her back, hoping he wasn't overstepping any of her boundaries. His wife didn't care, even turning so that he could get a better look at the baby. The corners of her lips upturned and she was no longer looking at the baby. Remus let Teddy make a fist around his finger, even if he didn't know what that meant.

"Well he's looking at something." She suggested. Everything about this tiny human was fascinating to her. "Maybe he sees ghosts that we can't see, I dunno."

"Maybe." Remus chuckled. "Okay, next order of business after we wash everything... I say we toss everything in the fridge. I wouldn't trust any of it at this point."

"Probably be best not to open it, just blow it up or something." Tonks joked. "I agree. I we could start on a grocery list. We still have food in the pantry to last us a few days."

"We'll have to make a budget." Remus said thoughtfully. "Figure what's most important right now. Probably formula and diapers, but we've still got to eat... I don't think it'll be eggs and rice, but it might be close."

"A couple of pieces of fruit aren't going to send up into poverty." Tonks remarked. Her husband was giving her a frustrated look. "We can pay Mum back if we need-"

"We owe her enough already."

"I know, I know, but c'mon, fresh bananas? We haven't hardly eaten any fresh fruit in the past year, what do you want me to say?" Tonks said. "She doesn't mind, really. She's offered a million and a half times to help us out if we ever need it. We need to take it." Remus began to protest before his wife cut him off. "Look, we can't be completely selfless all the bloody time or we're going to starve. We've got to get back on our feet."

He inhaled sharply through his nose. "Alright, I hear you."

"Good." She raised her eyebrows at him. "It's about time."

They spent the afternoon searching every nook and crannie for cobwebs to clean out yet they always seemed to forget about the ones hiding in plain sight. They had to hunt down a mouse, which Tonks refused to kill, and Remus did anyway, sending his wife promptly to tears. They washed laundry and started on emptying out the spare bedroom for Teddy. Dinner had to be dry spaghetti with canned tomatoes. Neither were quite brave enough to face the refrigerator yet.

Tonks slept surprisingly sound given the events of the week they had. There were funerals and memorials and receptions almost every day. Now simply didn't feel like a good time to be introducing a new baby to everyone they knew, but the one's who lost the most we're the one's who needed to hold him the most. They were doing laundry every day as Tonks was constantly finding something new to spill all over the only black dress that she owned, and the only appropriate funeral attire she could still fit into. Remus was a bit of a different story in terms of sleep, sleeping at odd hours of the day and frequently burying himself under pillows at soon as it was ten o'clock. Despite this, he was always instinctively the first on his feet when Teddy began whining or crying.

When Tonks fell into a deep enough sleep, her hair would go brown. She was tired enough to dream, leaving her short hair in its natural state. Remus was awake next to her, watching as her eyelids twitched, occasionally with her eyebrows knitting together or the corners of her mouth flinching. The migraines and the baby were throwing off his sleep schedule. It was a bit scary watching her body twitch without her having any sense of alertness as to what was going on around her. Remus gently rubbed his hand over her head, playing with and smoothing out her hair. Occasionally, Remus would twist his finger around a strand of hair and when he pulled back, would naturally curl itself up. The veins in her face were dark purple behind her her eyelids and her skin was cold when he pulled her close to him, kissing her forehead.

She had always been a noisy sleeper, but she was a mostly noisy person when concious too. She must have been feeling safe enough to let herself let go of her insecurity. He held her head and matched his breathing to hers, lying still enough to feel her heartbeat. Remus wasn't too proud to admit that quite recently, the two of them had been fighting to a point where they weren't sleeping in the same bed. They had so many things they needed to work out still and Remus was worried it would all come to a head now that the war was mostly over.

Her hair used to change in her as often as their son's did, and it still did on occasion, but mostly laid limp and dull against the pillow. Remus kissed her temple lovingly and nuzzled the top of her head, burying his face in her hair. It was beginning to change again. In the dark bedroom, Remus couldn't quite make out what the colour was, except it became darker. It went black, short strands growing and curling tightly. Tonks' whole body began to squirm, still unconscious and unaware, but still with force. Her legs were unusually restless, like she was coming to a wake.

"...Dora?" Remus whispered. "Are you awake?"

Tonks woke up in a gasp, sitting up, limbs thrashing in the bed. Her eyes were wide open, staring around the room in confusion. Her hand reached up to touch her hair, but it changed back to it's regular style and colour. "Rem- what-" she panted, looking over at him. Her hand was already reaching for her wand in the drawer next to her. "Are you okay? What happened? What time is it?"

"It's... shit, you were kicking me again." Remus huffed, sitting up. His shins were slowly turning yellow, green, and purple. "Damn, calm down, please. You had a nightmare."

Tonks sighed, slumping back onto her pillow, clutching her injured hand. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Remus. I'm so sorry..."

"Don't apologize. Dora, just... what's wrong?" Remus asked, gently approaching his wife.

"I'm... I'm fine." She shook her head, despite still visibly upset. She leaned over, looking at the clock. "It's almost twelve, okay... I thought it had to be later..."

He paused, reaching over for her hand. "You can always talk to me, you know that."

Tonks looked around the room and rubbed her hand. Tonks nodded, pushing the sheets back. "I'm going to check on him real fast." She got up to go out, but stopped herself, turning back to Remus. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. It's not your fault." Remus assured her. "Are you sure you're alright?"

Tonks nodded. Her body was slow and heavy to rise, her feet unsure of their placement and stumbling over each other. She rested her hand on the wall and crept along the wall to find Teddy asleep at the end of the bed. Remus turned the lamp on and watched his wife as she tried her best to swaddle the sleeping baby in his yellow knitted blanket. She rocked him gently in her eyes, gazing down at his face. Teddy was still and quiet, except for his heavy, nasally snores. She took him over to the lone chair in their bedroom and sat for a while, watching the baby's hair flicker between colours as he dreamed. He was safe. No one hurt him. No one got hurt. It wasn't real.

Remus broke the silence. "What's bothering you?"

She thought for a moment. "If... Remus, do you have your wand on you?"

"No, why?" Remus asked.

Tonks snapped. "Remus, you can't let yourself get haphazard like that. "

"Calm down, it's alright." He looked at her strangely for a moment, chuckling bitterly. "'Constant Vigilence'?"

"Remus, damn you, can't you take me seriously for a second? I'm not joking." She scowled.

"I'm... sorry, I was just-"

"You-" She stopped, realizing all that she had been thinking. She groaned, turned her head and staring at the wall. Her hand hand grabbed ahold of the chair, rhythmically clenching and unclenching her hand around the arm of the chair.

Remus shook his head, walking over to her. He knelt down beside the chair, placing his hand on her knee. "You're extremely sleep deprived and you just left a war. You're caught in this cycle right now and we'll work through this."

"I just had a bad dream is all."

"No, you're just very... distant. Sporadic." He comforted. "You should start taking something to help you sleep."

"No, I'm-"

"Nymphadora..." He warned. "You can't keep this up."

"I can damn well do what I please." She remarked.

"You're going to go crazy if you keep this up." He shot back. "Something's been off since you had the baby and you won't give yourself a break."

"I don't have time for a break."

"I'm not saying you have to sleep like normal, but it's over right now. You need to give yourself time to calm down." He reached out his hand for hers. "I'm worried, love, please look at me."

She looked down at him, but something was off in her eyes. Her eyes weren't warm, but black, as if even light couldn't touch them. A sense of hostility flooded her, forcing her to draw back further, biting her lip. "It was just a dream." She lifted her head. "Just a dream, Remus."

He didn't believe her, but he didn't fight her either. All he could do was shake his head.


End file.
